Revenge
by crazytomboy78
Summary: Sequel to Her Story. Chloe is happy with her life&job at S.H.I.E.L.D., but when her parents' killer wants revenge, can she keep the life she's made or will it crumble out from underneath her? RhodeyxOC, Pepperony. Set three years later. Rating may change.
1. Prolouge

**Okay, may I just say….**_**BA DA DA DAAAAAAAAAAA! **_**It's SEQUEL TIIIIIIIIMMMEEEEEEEEEE XD I was just so excited that I just haaaad to say that before the story gets started….XD I'M JUST SO EXCITTEEEEEEEEED! hehe….**

As a tall blonde finished brushing her teeth, she set down her toothbrush and picked up the cup residing beside the faucet of her sink. She filled it a quarter with water and took a sip. Before she swallowed it, she swished the water around in her mouth and spat it back into the sink slowly. She took another sip and once again let it pour out of her mouth. The third sip she allowed to slither down her throat as to drain the minty flavor of her toothpaste from her mouth.

Setting down the cup, she went to her bedroom-which was right next to the bathroom-and sat on her bed as she grabbed her phone and surfed through her texts. With hair tied back in a messy bun, she set her phone on her nightstand beside her bed and allowed her phone to charge. She laid out flat on her bed and stared out the window of her room and into the night sky, oblivious to the man staring through her other window secretively.

Spending as many years in jail as he had allowed him to reflect on his strategies and change them. He learned how to and how not to kill someone (thanks to one of his cellmates from before he'd been moved to the d ward for stabbing an inmate) and had learned the proper way to seek revenge on little girls for busting him for killing her parents. He knew what he was doing now. Jail would do that to you.

He smirked at her appearing innocence as she closed her eyes and turned on her side and drifted into a world of dreams. He moved inside the apartment building and found the office of the manager. Using a bobby pin to pick the lock, he searched the desk to find the master key. Once the key was possessed, he took the stairs up to the correct floor and came to a door. Unlocking it and walking in, he found a pen and some paper. Too cliché. He grabbed the ketchup from the fridge and squirted it onto her fridge door. Walking out carefully, he laughed.

~...~

As the girl woke with a yawn and slowly shuffled her way to the kitchen, she opened her windows as she went along (the sun didn't enter her apartment very well, one reason it was so cheap) she noticed a bottle of ketchup on her kitchen counter. She could've sworn she hadn't gotten out the ketchup, and if she had she knew she would've put it away. Then she caught sight of her fridge.

_I'm coming for you._

Chloe jumped at the message and stared at it blankly until her brain finally moved her body to clean off the ketchup from the fridge door and get moving with the rest of her day. She grabbed a sponge first and wiped it over the edible message from the stainless-steel fridge door. She wiped a paper towel over the now wet area and threw it out. Making sure everything was clean, she took a step back and sighed, brushing her hand through her hair. Stress wasn't a good thing to bring to work when you worked at S.H.I.E.L.D. She walked back past her room and into her bathroom to begin getting ready for work.

~…~

In the dark alleyway, the escaped criminal evaluated the weapons he had laid out. He had everything in order, and he could take out that pesky little girl out anytime he desired; but that was too easy. She couldn't get off that easy. She would pay for tattling on him, and her vengeance would be a slow and painful one. She would suffer for what she's done to me, he thought. He would not be stopped by a puny little girl and take it lightly. No, he does not suffer those things lightly. I am Brent Garcia, he thought, and I do not suffer fools lightly.

Locking and loading a large gun, he said,

"I'm coming for you, stupid little girl," he paused, "and you won't see anything coming."

**OOOOH, SEQUELS ARE FUN! I know, that chapter was short. But there will be more, do not fear! So review!**


	2. Thinking Time

Should I go to Tony? No, no I shouldn't bother him. He's busy, he's got work to do. But that would rule out Pepper, since she's working for Tony. I don't think Tony would make it the rest of the day without his PA. I don't know what Rhodey's doing today, maybe he could give me some advice. But then he'd just go to Tony…I don't want Tony to get tangled into my problems…I'll just have to deal with this on my own.

I'm a twenty-year-old woman, I can handle this on my own…right? I escaped from him before and I was only six. Then again, I didn't really do anything but cower in fear until the police got there. I was smart enough to back up to the wall where our security system control panel was and press the emergency button that contacted the police saying a certain address was in trouble. My mom had taught me—before she died, that is—that if I was ever in an emergency and she or my father were not available, that I should press that button. Her lessons were put to good use, too, because I may have been dead that day if I hadn't.

Why was he after me anyways? What did I ever do? So what if I got him arrested, he shouldn't have killed my parents. He was asking for it. But I guess that doesn't sit well with some people, now does it?

The landing dock where the Helicarrier parked when dropping people off and or picking people up was loud with the roaring of the Helicarrier's engines, and I knew they were waiting for all the employees with the weekend off to get aboard again for the week. The way it went was: some workers, depending on their job, got the weekends off and the Helicarrier dropped them off after work on Fridays. Others stayed year-round and never got off except for holidays and given vacations. Then there were the workers who got on and off every day. I was a week-worker. Although sometimes I went home every day for a week or two, and the past week was also one of those weeks.

I'm treated as an important person at work, and I like that. I've never been treated like I mattered in a community; I've always been 'that girl over there'. I never realized how much it mattered to me to know that there are people in this world that really care…of course, it's good to have friends too; but sometimes I'm home alone and I have nothing to do, and I think of my parents and my unborn brother. I think of where my parents and I would be today if that fateful day hadn't happened; perhaps I would have never moved to NYC and I would have never met my friends and probably wouldn't have gotten a job at S.H.I.E.L.D. either. Who knows what would have happened…

I deterred the thought and climbed onto the Helicarrier to start a new day at work.

~…~

As Tony worked away in his dimly-lit office, he heard the door open and looked up to see who was there. Standing in his office doorway was Rhodey. Tony looked back to his work after greeting his childhood friend. Rhodey was usually present at Stark International when he wasn't at his own job in the military, but Tony didn't mind one bit. Having his friends near even though they were adults now and usually friends parted for college and didn't run into each other until the high school reunions. Tony had no intentions of leaving his friends behind anyhow, and he had hoped that they felt the same way.

Speaking of Pepper, Tony thought, what's she doing? Pepper, after high school, did apply to S.H.I.E.L.D. but got turned down once they realized that she was the same blabby, annoying girl that was stuck on the Helicarrier a few years back, and they told her that they didn't feel that she was right for S.H.I.E.L.D. and officially turned her down. Pepper was mad about it at first, but after thinking about it she figured that she didn't mind, because if she had been accepted she would have worked with or at least close to Chloe and she guessed that even though they were friends now, that wouldn't be her most preferred working condition anyhow. So she went to work for Tony as his PA.

Rhodey walked up next to Tony and watched him scan through digitized notes and web images of whatever it was he was doing.

"So what's today's big project?" Rhodey asked.

"Oh, you'd be bored by the details. It's just a project I've been working on lately. What's up with you today?" Tony asked. Rhodey shrugged.

"Not much. I saw Chloe earlier, she was on her way to work," Tony perked up.

"Oh really? What's she been doing lately?" Tony asked.

"Well she said her job at S.H.I.E.L.D. is going good, but I don't know. Something seemed wrong, she had the most scared look in her eyes." Rhodey explained. Tony creased his eyebrows in concern.

"Did you ask about it?" Rhodey shook his head.

"I don't think she would have told me if I had asked." Rhodey said.

"Well I don't know. Hopefully its nothing." Tony said, going back to his work. Then Pepper walked into Tony's office holding a clipboard to her chest and pencil in hand.

"Tony, it's time for your eleven thirty meeting." She said. Tony shrugged to Rhodey and followed Pepper out of his office and to the meeting room. Rhodey walked out of Stark International, Chloe suddenly stuck to his thoughts like she hadn't been before.

~…~

_A little boy was running and playing merrily in his backyard when he heard the sound of the front door to his home slam violently and heavy, angered footsteps pounding through the house. He was suddenly very scared and ran behind a bush in his fenced-in backyard. He peered into the house from his hiding spot and knew that he would be coming for him soon, and his happiness was soon to be gone. The sound of the man's drunken belches and shouts scared him and he wished on his life that his mother was still alive right now to protect him._

"_YOU STUPID KID, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" The man screamed. The boy cowered in fear behind the bush, and he knew he was not safe. He knew he had to run, but he was too afraid of his father catching him that he couldn't move. He saw the door to the backyard slide open and watched his drunken father stumble out of it. He felt very scared. It was a small backyard, and it wasn't hard to find someone who was hiding in it. He knew that if he was discovered now, his father would be angrier than the last time because this time he was not responding to his father when he was being called. When he did not do what he was told and his father was drunk, he became angrier and more vicious._

_The boy swallowed nervously as his father came closer to the bush. _

"_BOY, YOU BETTER GET THE F**K OUT HERE 'FORE I BEAT YOU HARDER!" The boy was shaking in fright. 'Where are you now, mommy? 'Cuz I need you' the boy thought. He remembered how his mother had told him one day that if she ever passed away she would be his guardian angel and she would protect him from harm even though he would not be able to see or talk to her, and that she loves him very much, and that sometimes daddy just got unhappy and when he got unhappy he did not think straight and he didn't know what he was doing, but daddy loves his little boy very much. The boy wondered how that was true, because daddy was 'unhappy' a lot more than he was when mommy was killed. _

"_BOY, YOU BETTER NOT BE HIDIN' FROM ME! GET OUT HERE!" The man stumbled over to the bush the boy was crouching behind and looked behind it. The boy looked up to his father with fear written deep in his eyes, which his father did not see. His father grabbed the boy by his shirt collar and held him by his shirt collar at eye level to him. The shirt caused the boy's breathing to restrict, and he felt like he could barely breathe. The father swigged another large sip of alcohol from the large glass bottle that it came in and looked back to his son, who was shaking in fear._

"_You know," he spoke drunkly, "you don't hide from me when I'm callin' for you, stupid f**kin' kid!" The boy was crying, but his tears went unnoticed to his father. The father dropped the boy to the ground, and the impact hit the boy hard and he rubbed his bum in pain. The tears still rolled down his cheeks quickly. _

"_Daddy, please don't hit me!" He screamed as he cried. The father ignored his son's pleas and struck him with his free hand. The beer in the bottle he was holding in the opposite hand swished in its container and spilled out of the bottle a little as the father struck his son again, and again and again, leaving bruises on the boy's face. _

"_Stupid kid, no one's ever gonna like you no matter what you do!" The father screamed. The boy cried harder._

"_No one's gon' like you till you beat it outa 'em!" The father was not even speaking full words at this point as he stopped for a second to swig more beer. The boy thanked god for that one moment where his father was too busy guzzling beer to beat on him more, but cried harder as his father beat him harder and harder. He wondered where his neighbors were, and why no one was hearing his screams and his pleas, or why no one had just killed him already. Why had no one put him out of his misery?_

"_Please, daddy, don't hit me!" The boy screamed. His pleas were still ignored, and the father began to beat harder._

"_Boy, I ain' nev' gon' stop!" The boy cried and cried. The father beat and beat. The boy cried and cried more, and the same went on for forever before the boy's father finally passed out drunk on the back lawn. The boy, upon being released, immediately darted through his house, feeling tremendous pain shoot through his body like a bullet with each step he took. He knew he had to ignore the pain and get help. He didn't know whether to go to the police or the hospital, so instead he ran and ran until he found a safe place to sit down, hide and cry. He found his only friend's house and before knocking on the front door, he sat on their front porch, shoved his head into his cupped hands and cried. He cried and cried, and with each tear he felt the immense pain surging through his body. _

_Soon enough, the owners of the house came outside to see a bruised, beaten and bloody boy leaning against their house crying. They knew this boy as their daughter's best friend and immediately rushed to his side._

"_Brent, honey what happened? Are you okay?" They asked in concern. The boy glanced up at them briefly and said,_

"_Daddy beat me again," he explained. The adults looked to each other with immense concern and looked back to the boy._

"_Daddy said that no one will like me till I make them and that I'm just a worthless kid," the boy explained further. The parents sighed in disappointment and sorrow for the boy. They attempted to help him to his feet, but the boy just pushed them away and yelled, "he was right too!" and with that, no one had ever seen him again. _

_The only thing he knew then was that the only way he could get through life was making people give him what he wanted. _

~…~

Upon reflection of this memory, Brent felt anger well up inside him and he punched the brick wall across from him, ignoring the pain that coursed through his arm in result. Stupid ol' man was right, he thought, f**kin' beat the truth into me. Good thing he's dead now…

The man picked up the hand gun he had set beside him and shot it at an alley cat that was rummaging through the trash can not too far from where he was seated. The cat fell from the trash can, suddenly very limp.

"Stupid kid ratted me out," He thought. All he had wanted to do was kill that stupid Sara for breaking his heart the way she did when she married that stupid guy, what's his name. 'I got my revenge on him when I killed him', he thought. _Sara, why couldn't you be the friend to me that you had been when we were kids? I didn't want to have to kill you…._

"I ain't done with my revenge yet. I'll get ya whether you saw it comin' or not,"

**Ehh, did I reveal too much in this chapter? How did I do? Good? Bad? Like it? No? Why? Why not? Lol, I feel like Pepper asking so many questions. Review! :D**


	3. Speak of the Past

"Hey, Chloe, you look kinda stressed. Wanna take it out on the training field or something?" Chloe looked up to her coworker.

"What? Oh, no I'm fine. It's just some personal issues that came up recently." Chloe explained.

"Well just shout any time if you need me, okay?" Chloe nodded. She just had to do one more task and she could get out early for the weekend and meet Pepper for lunch. They hadn't really gotten a chance to talk since Tony's and Pepper's wedding—and when their first child was born. (Pepper had gotten pregnant not too long after they had gotten married [it was a girl, which they named Madeline and nicknamed Maddie, and by this point she was about two]—they were working on a second child right now but Pepper was only in her third month and wasn't really all that big yet).

"Agent Carter, your answer please?" Chloe snapped out of her train of thought and saw director Fury starting to get angry.

"S-sorry, director Fury, my mind was elsewhere-" Chloe started nervously.

"Miss Carter that is no concern of mine. My main concern right now is this man," Fury pointed to a man on the screen that they had been observing lately and were now evaluating.

"Right, sorry,"

~…~

Chloe came to the entrance to the restaurant to see Pepper and Maddie sitting at an outside table. Chloe approached the table and greeted them.

"Hey Maddie!" Chloe exclaimed as she sat down and began a conversation.

"So, how are things lately?" Pepper asked before sipping a glass of water.

"Well, work is going well, but as for my personal life, not so swell…"

~…~

At another table outside of the restaurant sat a man reading a newspaper and sipping some coffee. He dawned a gray hat and sunglasses to hide his facial features from the woman who sat at the table near his. He had but a simple half a sandwich on his plate, but he paid no attention to it. His attention was focused on the young twenty-year-old woman sitting with her friend and her friend's young child who had been chatting for a few minutes now. He glared at the woman balefully and words echoed in his head; _you useless kid! You nev' shoulda been born! _ The man growled to himself at the words.

"Stupid kid…" He muttered under his breath as he glared at her more over his newspaper.

"Sir?" The man snapped out of his glare to see the waitress standing over him.

"Your bill?" She explained. He nodded.

"Ahh, yes, thank you." He grabbed the small black book and fished out his wallet and the waitress took his plate away. The man still glared at the blonde-haired woman angrily as he picked out ten dollars and placed it in the checkbook; he then grabbed the pen and signed his name: Brent Garcia. He then placed his attention back on the blonde-haired woman sitting at the table near him and fingered the gun hidden in his pocket, remembering the name of the woman he was watching: Chloe.

~…~

"What do you mean? What's wrong?" Pepper asked, feeding a bite of her food to Maddie.

"Well, I found a concerning message left in my apartment by someone I had really hoped never to hear from again…" Chloe explained.

"What did it say? Who was it from?"

"It says 'I'm coming for you'. Pepper, I-It's…" Chloe paused. It was almost impossible for her to say it, she choked on the words as she hadn't before.

"It's from my parents' killer." Pepper gasped quietly at the statement. She hadn't really expected that sort of thing, either. She hadn't exactly wanted to, either. Not that she knew anything about the man, just that he was a crazy guy.

~…~

_The boy had finally escaped his cruel father's harsh watch, and he had alcohol to thank for it. Perhaps, though, he thanked the substance a little too much when he was sixteen and drunk nearly every day. His friend—Sara—tried to convince him to turn his life around constantly, and she was always saying that he needed to stop this drinking rampage of his and focus on his future, because she cares for him. 'What was that supposed to mean, anyways? She cares for me?' He thought. He was confused. These emotions of hers confused him. He had no idea why she stuck by his side all the time, either. He was just a lost and confused sixteen year old boy with the mind of an innocent four year old mind stuck in his head. _

"_Please, Brent, listen to me, it's not too late to turn your life around. Please, think of your future…think of me…" Brent looked over to her with a sneer._

"_What does anyone care anyways? M' stupid pop screwed me over a long time ago. It's too late for 'turning my life around'. Why the hell do you care?" Sara sighed._

"_Brent, I care about you so much, please don't let your past hang over your head like this, there are people out there that really do care about you. I-I love you, Brent." _

"_What do you know about love? What does anybody know about me? Why can't I leave anything I want hanging over my head? Damn, what the hell do you keep telling me that for? Just shutup!" As Brent spoke, anger built up inside him with each word and it ended with him slapping her across the face. _

_Sara was taken aback by the motion and she held her hand to her cheek where she had been struck. Brent froze. A realization of sorts was going on inside his mind—he had just hit the one person he had in his life that actually cared about him and that actually stuck by his side through thick and thin, no matter what he did to anger the person who cared about him. He knew he had become the one man he hated: his father. _

_Before she could even vocalize her shock, she ran off in tears._

_Sara spent several days crying over her friend. She had been his only friend for years and he had hit her. She knew that she would normally never consider not being his friend, and just giving up on him, but he was drifting away lately and it was tearing her apart piece by piece. _

_That's when a boy about her age with brown hair and stunning brown eyes approached her curiously._

"_Hi, umm, are you okay?" He asked politely. She looked up to him._

_The minute her blue eyes hit his brown ones, they were instantly locked. She couldn't move them even if she tried. She had never really joined the controversy 'love at first sight', but when she looked into his eyes something of that feeling instantly filled the air between them._

"_U-uh, not really, but I don't want to bore you with the details." Sara said. He sat down next to her on the stairs and said, _

"_No, its okay, I want to help. I mean, if you don't want to talk about it that's okay too…kind of…ehh, who cares you're telling me anyways." Sara giggled for a moment._

"_Well, its kind of a long story," Sara explained. He shrugged._

"_I have time," he smiled. She liked his smile. _

"_Well I have this friend, and when he was young his father abused him. I've been his friend since we were little babies, and I've been his only friend for his whole life. But today…" Sara swallowed before continuing, "I was trying to encourage him to turn his life around and telling him that I care about him, and I…well, love him, and he hit me." Sara explained. The boy looked surprised._

"_Well, do you still feel that way for him?" He asked. Sara sighed._

"_That's the thing, I don't know. I've always been there for him, but something in my mind just says to just let him go. I don't know." _

"_Well, you know, no real man would ever strike a woman." Sara looked up to him and smiled._

"_And as if that weren't enough, he drinks. All the time. It tears me apart inside. I just don't know how much longer I can take it, you know?" Sara explained further._

"_Well not to sound like a jerk, but maybe if he hasn't listened to you for sixteen years he's not really worth it anymore." Sara looked over to him._

"_What's your name, anyways?" She asked._

"_Danny." _

**Uhh, do you have any idea how long it took me to find enough ideas to write this chapter? And not to mention all the other stories I have to update. So that's why I say this: right now, with all the stories I have, I feel so overwhelmed. So if I take a bit longer than your liking to update a story, I'm sorry but I have other priorities with the school year ending and studying for finals. But I'll try my best, okay? So review!**

**OH, and P.S.-I found this piece of information on Wikipedia:**

**They SAID that the first episode is a two part episode titled "Another Year" (parts one and two) and it's supposed to be about starting another year and having some 'new danger' arise or something. I don't know. They removed that bit; then again, they also erased the first episode about season two when they said it'd be titled "Howard Stark". Lies, they're all lies…**

**Anyways, review!**


	4. Past And Present

"_Danny, I like that name." Sarah said. Danny smiled and shrugged as they sat on the stairs._

"_Ehh, the name's okay." Danny responded._

"_I've always liked the name Chloe, too though…" Sarah finished. _

"_Me too, actually…" Danny said. Sarah smiled over to him and Danny accepted the smile. He liked her smile. It made him feel warm inside and it sent him to places he's never been before. No other girl had made him feel this way and honestly, he knew he didn't want to let her go._

"_I never actually got your name," Danny said._

"_Sarah, my name's Sarah." Sarah…what an angelic name, Danny thought. _

"_There you are, Sarah! Where did you go? You totally just missed half of Spanish class!" Carmen exclaimed as she approached the two on the stairs. _

"_Oh, right, sorry…" Sarah stood and turned to Danny, who had stood to return to his own class._

"_I'll, uhh, see you later?" Sarah said hopefully._

"_That'd be nice." _

_As Sarah and Carmen walked down the hall, Carmen said, "Sarah, that's my new step-brother! Do you like him?" In a teasing way._

"_No way, that's your new step-brother? Cool!" _

"_Yeah, that's who I was going to have you meet this weekend." _

_As they each went to their own classes, they couldn't keep their minds off each other._

_~…~_

_Sarah and Danny walked through the park on their way home from school that day with their newfound friendship. They had a lot to talk about, of course, but oddly enough for Sarah she couldn't keep her eyes off of him. Even though her heart felt heavy because of having been betrayed by her best friend that she's known forever, she felt like Danny was lifting it. Yeah, maybe it was too soon to start falling in love again, but she couldn't help it if Danny was taking her heart by storm._

"_So, what exactly drove you away from Brent though?" Danny asked._

"_I don't know. He seemed to just…disconnect himself so much lately that, when he hit me today…it…I don't know, something inside me snapped. I couldn't take it anymore. He had always just pretended I wasn't there, pretended I was nothing to him even though I was the only friend he has. Something inside me just tells me to forget about him because he's going to ruin his own life no matter what I say to him to turn him around." Sarah explained. _

"_Well, that sucks. I mean, you always want to be there for a friend with such problems like he has, but if he doesn't pay attention to you, you can't go on degrading yourself by staying by his side. I mean, you loved him and he sure as heck didn't treat you like a lady, which every real man should." Danny said. Sarah smiled. He was a good friend, she could tell already._

"_I know. He never even looked my way with a smile. All I had really ever been looking for was a real smile. One that I knew he meant, and one that said that what I was saying to him was getting through his skull and getting to him and helping him. But he never let anything or anyone in. I just couldn't take it anymore." _

"_I don't blame you, either. You made the right choice for yourself." Sarah smiled to him._

"_Danny?" _

"_Yeah?"_

"_I…I love you." Danny smiled. Instead of responding with words, Danny kissed her and after the initial surprise of the action, Sarah kissed back._

_~…~_

_Brent swigged another sip of alcohol as he leaned against the wall to the drug store down the street and grunted._

"_Stupid chic," he complained, "doesn't know what she's talkin' 'bout." But on the inside, he felt hurt. He felt that he had become the very man who had abused him only years ago, and deflected the ones who had loved him. He was falling to the very same fate._

_Yet he kept sipping his alcohol. It was alluring and it made him stop thinking about his problems. It made all the world's trouble go away and it made everything better. So he kept drinking._

"_One day, Sarah," He mumbled, "I will get you back." _

~…~

"One day my ass…" Brent mumbled as he peered through Chloe's apartment. He saw her face and it reminded him of the soft features of the only friend he'd ever had. The stupid offspring of his love and his love's love looked too much like Sarah and when he saw her more it made him want to kill her more. Brent clutched the knife in his pocket tighter, but then took a deep breath in and told himself to wait.

"Just wait, Brent," he whispered, "the right time will come."

Then Brent began to observe everything about Chloe's lifestyle. He examined every tiny aspect of her life. He observed _everything._ What she liked to watch on TV, how she liked to sit, what she liked to wear when she was relaxing, the people she went out with and spent time with, everything. He observed her decorating style. He observed what she liked to surround herself with to make herself feel comfortable and have a sense of being at home. He observed when she opened her fridge what foods she liked to eat. He observed what drinks she kept in her fridge. He observed her neighbors and what they liked and what they surrounded themselves with. He would observe her for as long as he needed to and learn everything about her.

And he would use _every bit of information _against her.

~…~

"_Hello?" _

"Hey, Carmen! What's up?"

"_Not much lately, what's up on your end?" _

"Eh, not much. Hey, listen, I've got the weekend off from work and I was wondering if you had tomorrow free for lunch."

"_Oh, gosh sure! I'd love to!"_

"Okay, great! See you tomorrow then!" And with that, I hung up and went back to my TV show. The show, combined with having talked with Carmen, made me think of how Carmen had raised me over the years. She had tried to be so inspiring to me, and had tried her best to raise me without there being so much sadness. But I had been a miserable shrew all my life, hadn't I? My gosh, what was I thinking?

The thing that seemed weirdest to me was back when I went to the Tomorrow Academy, I had thought I liked Tony but something inside me had been saying 'You're close! Try his other friend there, the one that seems relaxed and collected.' But I'd never believed that little voice before, and I still wouldn't now.

Rhodey had never really had anything against me, either. He wasn't really ever mad at me for betraying them, he'd never told me to leave because you're not wanted…overall, what I gathered from this is that he's a good friend; but I couldn't help think that I should have gathered something more than that.

**Short filler chapter! It's so baad, I know -.- review?**

**P.S.-Season 2 in 22 days! :D**


	5. Dreams and Daydreams

**Pre-warning: this chapter contains cursing that younger readers should either ignore or not read.**

Chloe awoke the next morning to the bright, warming sun shining through her bedroom window. She felt relaxed and happy; so she got out of bed and went to her kitchen to make breakfast.

When she got to the kitchen counter however, she found a tape sitting on the counter. She set down the box of cereal she'd been holding and examined the tape. It was labeled with her name.

Chloe popped it into her DVD player and soon enough a familiar face came on screen. Chloe swallowed nervously.

"_Hello, Chloe." _He started. _"I know you're surprised to see me on your TV, but don't worry. I'm planning on harming you. But you won't know when I'll strike. You won't see it coming. But I just came by to tell you that you'd better watch out, because when I killed your parents I wasn't coming for your mother. I was coming for your father and you. And I'm coming to finish my job. So watch out!" _The tape stopped with Brent smiling devilishly and Chloe swallowing nervously.

But what struck her was the fact that he had had an objective when he had come that night. She'd always thought that he just came as a random guy who wanted to release his anger through violence. Why had he really come that night? And why didn't he want to kill mom?

These thoughts and more ran through her head. Everything she'd learned had just confused her so much that she needed something to take the thoughts off her mind. So she took the tape out of her DVD player and turned the TV on, sitting on the couch with a bowl of cereal to help her take her mind off the curiosity the tape had brought to her mind.

~…~

Brent poked his head out from above the newspaper and glanced over at the two ladies eating their lunch and chatting away at the table near him. As long as he kept a low profile, they wouldn't expect a thing.

Yet seeing Carmen again after so long brought back memories…

**Flashback!**

_As Brent leaned against a tree outside the school and took a sip from his large bottle of beer, Carmen spotted him and angrily walked over to him._

"_Hey, Brent," She said angrily, "I need a word with you." He continued to sip the beer, giving her [most] of his attention._

"_You've been sitting on your ass drinking alcohol all the time and hurting my best friend's feelings and breaking her heart! First of all, you're fucking sixteen. Why the hell do you find the need for beer? Second of all, you were so fucking lucky to have a friend, a person that stood by your side through thick and thin, even if you liked it or not. She wanted to help you through your tough times, she wanted to help you grow up and she loved you. __**Loved **__you. But you let her slip through your fingers. She's never going to talk to you again. So good going, you blew it." Carmen ranted as she crossed her arms._

_Brent took another sip and said, "Whatever, I don' need 'er. You don't think I loved her too? I was so conflicted every morning between anger at my father and her that I just turn to beer. But I don' care. Just go away, you bitch." _

"_You know, she's moved on. She's dating my new stepbrother now and they're really in love. You've officially lost your chance," Carmen walked away. Brent sighed and sipped more beer. _

~…~

Brent fingered the smooth side of the knife sitting on the table that he hid behind his newspaper as he glared angrily at Chloe and Carmen. He watched as they ate lunch and talked, and laughed at god knows what; just plotting his revenge. He wanted so badly to just stab them both to death right here, right now, but he knew it wasn't the right time. There were too many witnesses, and furthermore, there were too many points of evidence. There would be too much left behind to prove that it was him.

No, he had a plan. It was completely fool-proof. He would slowly make her detach from reality so that slowly, no one would really notice her anymore. And when no one even realized she was around, he would make his move and kill her surely and slowly. It would be like she was never there at all.

And as for her friend Iron Man, he would make sure he didn't interfere.

~…~

Carmen saw Chloe setting her stuff down on a table outside a restaurant down the street that she was headed for and quickly approached the table.

"Choe! Hi, how've you been?" Carmen said excitedly as she ran up to Chloe with a hug.

"Hey Carmen! Good, actually, good," Chloe answered as they sat down at the table. "I'm just having a tough time today. You know, with the whole anniversary of my parents' death thing…" Carmen placed a hand on Chloe's shoulder.

"Hey, that's okay. This day has always been tough for you. But it's a day to remember your parents and celebrate their lives. I miss them as much as you, believe me," Carmen comforted. Chloe sighed.

"Yeah, I know. I just didn't want to be alone today…" _for more reasons than that, at least…_

"I know this has been tough on you, and it's been just as tough for me. Losing my brother and my best friend was tough on me, because your mom was like a sister to me." Carmen said. Chloe nodded.

"I'll just have to pull through like all the other anniversaries…"

Little did they know just how much danger they were in.

~…~

_I ran down the empty road that ran through the city, breathing hard and glancing over my shoulder to see if I was still being followed. I didn't see him, thankfully, but I still knew he was still after me. I needed to rest, really, I did, but I knew that as of right now it was too risky. He would find me too easily and I would be a dead woman. And I couldn't have that. _

_The image of the girl suddenly flashes a bright light for a split second and then the image goes dark. When the image shows up, the girl is laying on the ground with a knife protruding from her chest and blood seeping quickly from the stabbed area. There was a man standing over her with a devilish grin on his face. _

"_You can tell your parents when you see them that I told them they would pay for wronging me." He said, standing and walking away. The girl layed in the empty city, calling in her weak, frail voice for help; yet the whole city seemed deserted. It had seemed empty all day. _

_Why is no one here to help me?_

_**Chloe…**__the girl heard a voice call. She couldn't quite pick out where it was coming from._

_**Chloe, why didn't you save us?**__ The voice called._

_**Chloe…**__the voice called again._

Chloe jolted awake, breathing heavily.

…what the heck did that dream mean?


	6. Getting Answers

"Tony?" Pepper's voice called from the top of the stairs that lead down to the basement, which lead to Tony's lab.

"What?" Tony called back, still working on his armor.

"Could you come up here for a second?" She asked. Tony sighed. She didn't normally interrupt his lab time, but sometimes she would need help with Maddie.

But when he came up the stairs, he was not greeted by his favorite redhead. Instead, it was a man he had never seen before in his life.

The split second he had reached the final step that lead him into the main floor of their house, he felt a sharp pain in his side; and when he looked down, he saw blood flowing out of it and a bloodied knife clutched in the man's hand. Tony then fell against the wall in pain.

"Who are you and what do you have against me?" Tony asked, his voice harshed because of the searing pain in his side.

"Oh it's not you I'm after," he explained. "It's just that I can't have you in my way when I kill Chloe Carter." He explained further, fingering his knife as he spoke.

"What do you mean? What do you have against Chloe? Why do you want to kill her?" Tony asked in confusion.

"Oh that's a very long and complicated story. All you need to know is it involves a very long back-story with me and her parents." He explained, bending over him.

"Anyways, you have fun bleeding to death." He said, walking out of Tony's house.

"Tony, what was that all about—" Pepper asked, coming into the room from the kitchen, only to be stopped when she saw the blood coming from his side.

"Oh my gosh, Tony what happened! You have to go to the hospital!" Pepper exclaimed in shock and horror, beginning to lead him to the car; grabbing Maddie on her way.

"Well whatever it was, it had something to do with Chloe. I think I have a few questions."

~…~

Chloe had been rummaging her thoughts, her memories, her every reconciliation of anything she knew about her parents for an answer as to why her parents' killer would have come that night for her and her father, and not her mother. and just how he ended up killing her mother instead. And why did he want to finish the job by killing me? She thought. It just doesn't make sense!

Before she had any more time to think, she was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Chloe answered her door to an unexpected angry looking redhead.

"Pepper? What's up?" Chloe asked curiously.

"Tony was stabbed in the side and the stabber apparently had something to do with you. He said he wanted Tony out of the way so he could kill you?" Pepper explained. Chloe felt more panicked than before.

"Oh god. Oh crap…" Chloe dragged Pepper inside in panic.

"That guy who stabbed Tony, he's my parents' killer. He's out for some crazy revenge against me and he wants me dead and I have no idea why. I've been racking my brain all morning for an answer but nothing's coming." Chloe explained.

"Why not ask Carmen? She might know a thing or two more about why he wanted your parents dead." Pepper suggested.

Chloe was in such a rush for answers that he called Carmen over immediately. Carmen was over in a matter of minutes due to the concern written deep in Chloe's voice.

"Chloe, what's wrong?" Carmen asked.

"I need answers, and I need them fast. My parents' killer is after me to 'finish the job' and he says he meant to kill dad and I but I don't know what it means and I'm confused. I need answers." Chloe explained as the three sat down in Chloe's living room.

"Well what are your questions?" She asked.

"Why kid the murderer kill my parents, really?" Chloe started out simple.

"Well, that's kind of a long story…" Carmen began the whole tale starting from how Brent was abused to how that affected his friendship with Sara, to how Sara met Danny and how they fell in love at the start. She spilled everything. Chloe was highly intrigued. She had no idea that her parents have had such an…interesting past. She had no idea that his random breaking and entering that night actually had a reason beyond rage. It was caused by years of anger and hurt, and emptiness and loneliness.

"So you're saying he wanted to kill me and dad because he lost his chances with mom, and after we were dead he was going to pursue the life he had always dreamed of with mom." Chloe said, finally having everything click. Everything this Brent guy had done had actually had a reason behind it, believe it or not. Rage with a reason.

"Exactly. But now that he's out to kill you, I need to protect you and I need to find him and talk him down somehow." Carmen said.

"No, Carmen, stay out of this this time. It's my problem to begin with, and its going to be my problem to end. Besides, I can protect myself. I'm a trained S.H.I.E.L.D. operative and pretty darn close to being Fury's right hand man. I can handle this," Chloe assured the two.

"You know Tony's going to suit up and try to stop this guy regardless of his injuries." Pepper said.

"You have to make sure he doesn't. This is my problem alone and I want to solve it on my own. I don't need anyone's help." Chloe said.

"Chloe, you know we would do anything to help you and you can rely on us for help. We're your friends, and furthermore, two of said friends are superheroes." Pepper explained.

"Yeah, but I just don't want any of you getting hurt. Just stay out of it, okay?"

Pepper and Carmen shrugged, said their goodbyes and left; Pepper assuring Chloe first that Tony would be fine.

**Short chapter and it took way to long to get to! But luckily it didn't take me very long to write up. Ahh, now to work on updating those million other stories I have going…-.- review!**


	7. Reflecting On The Past

Chloe looked around her apartment, searching for any signs of Brent. But as far as she could see, there were none. She searched rapidly for anything that meant he was watching, he had been watching, or he had been there. _I know he's been here, so why isn't there any evidence? Why can't I find him? _ Chloe walked up to the roof of the apartment building and watched the city skyline for any signs of Brent. Yet there were none.

Tony is hospitalized because he got stabbed. Pepper is too distracted by taking care of Maddie and Tony that she's unaware of anything else. A dangerous killer is on the loose and out to kill me. Yet I can't even find him?

"My friends are screwed…" She mumbled aloud.

"Oh, don't worry about your pesky little playmates. There's no way they'll try to stop me now that they're too distracted by their little friend." A new voice budded in. Chloe turned quickly to see Brent standing there. She frowned in annoyance.

"What is it that's going too satisfy you by killing me? What are you going to take out of it? It won't bring my mother back and it won't erase the mistakes you've made with her. In fact, if you kill me, it'll only make you feel worse about yourself. You should just stop before you cause yourself any more emotional pain." Chloe said. However hearing it only made him more angry. He clenched his fists and reached for the knife in his back pocket.

"I'm going to slaughter you if you don't shut up," He warned. Chloe chuckled.

"You'd slaughter me even if I did shut it! Come on, can you really kill the flesh and blood of the girl you loved? The only true friend you've ever had?" Brent only became angrier. Chloe sighed.

"Go ahead. Kill me. Shank me right in the heart. Hell, whip out your gun and shoot me in the brain. I dare ya." By now, Brent was so infuriated that he did not hold back. He whipped out the knife from his back pocket and it began its descent—only to be stopped by Chloe's hand.

"Alright, so maybe he actually would kill me…" _Dude really holds a grudge. _She said, swinging her foot around and kicking him in the chest, which pushed him back. He grabbed the pain center and glared up at Chloe, furious. But he knew now wasn't the time. He had to send her life into a swirling torrent of misery and woe. Then she would beg him to kill her. Then he would know when to make the final blow.

Chloe watched as he disappeared, climbing down the side of the building, sending his wave of warning as he did so. "You better watch out, kid, cuz I'm gonna make your life a living hell,"

~…~

"C-come on, guys, I'm fine! I p-promise." Tony begged weakly.

"Tony you were stabbed in the side! You're far from fine!" Pepper exclaimed.

"I've suffered a lot worse, Pepper," Tony tried to assure her as he caught Maddie toddling in the corner of the room and walked over to pick her up, yet starting to fail as he felt the pain surging through his side.

"Tony, you're in no condition to find Chloe and help her with her problems. She told me herself that she didn't want us helping because 'it's her problem and she doesn't want us getting hurt because of it'. Can we just go about our normal lives?" Pepper asked calmly as she took Maddie from him and set her back on the floor, letting her toddle her way back to her toys.

"I can't just sit back and watch, Pepper, I have to do something." Tony said.

"Please, Tony, you'll just hurt yourself more." Pepper begged. Tony grabbed her by her arms and looked her in the eyes.

"Pepper, you know there's nothing I wouldn't do for you, Maddie and little can't wait to meet you. But right now it's my job as Iron Man to protect the people I care about." Tony kissed her cheek quickly before rushing to his lab to armor up. Pepper sat in an armchair where she could watch Maddie play as she thought of how she hoped he would at least play it safe.

~…~

"Chloe, I have a few questions for you." Tony commented as he came to where he saw Chloe standing on the roof of her apartment building. She looked startled by his sudden appearance, as she had been distracted by something Tony was guessing he had missed.

"Tony! What the heck are you doing here?" She asked.

"I'm a notoriously fast healer. Now, I think there's something I'm missing here." Tony said, folding his armored arms. Chloe sighed.

"Alright, fine. I didn't really want it to come to this but…it all started when I was little. Around five or six…" She began. She then explained her bond with her parents, how terribly she began to miss them once they had been murdered, and finally why they had been murdered. She explained that her father was killed in a fit of revenge and how she was supposed to be dead now but how her mother took the bullet for her instead. And how that sent her into a spiraling depression, knowing for the rest of her life that she could have been dead and her mother could still be alive. How she had always felt like it was her fault. Chloe then explained how her parents' killer was out to finish getting his revenge and how she was next on his list of people to kill. She explained his prison life.

"He doesn't care about having to go back to prison at all. I don't even think he cares about the outside world at all. In fact, I think he's found a home in that prison. I think he's found where he thinks he belongs. But considering his background I don't blame him at all." Chloe finished. Tony was very interested in his story all of the sudden.

"Have you ever tried talking him down at all?" He asked.

"I've tried telling him about how the things he's done were mistakes, how he didn't have to go about things the way he did. But he won't listen to me. He's blinded by anger and all he wants to do is kill. Kill, kill, kill. It's all he knew his whole life." Chloe explained.

"There's really nothing I can do but fight him."

~…~

As the sun fell behind the horizon later that night, Chloe sat where she had been since her encounter with Brent that afternoon, her feet dangling off the edge safely.

"I don't want to fight him, I really don't. But the way he's playing this there's no way to avoid it. I just want to show him what opportunities he has here if he would just give up his life of crime and alcohol and whatever!" Chloe complained as she looked into the nighttime sky and watched the stars begin to poke out. She scooted back, brought her knees to her chest and held them there.

"He was your friend, too…I-I just wish I had your guidance, mom…" She was silent then as she thought more.

"What do I do?" She screamed out to the skyline in frustration.

"I don't want to fight him, and I don't want to kill him. But I don't want to sit there and do nothing." Chloe continued to speak her predicaments to the sky as she did every night. To anyone else, it seemed like she was just plain crazy. But for Chloe, it was her way of connecting to her parents—especially her mother nowadays—again. It was her way of making herself feel that in some way, they were still with her and they always would be. If she went to bed without talking to her parents first, she wouldn't be able to sleep.

"You know, I knew Brent a little well too." Chloe turned around to see Carmen standing on the roof behind her. Chloe smiled a small smile.

"If you can tell me the right words to say to him to talk him out of what he's trying to do, that'd be great."

"Afraid I can't help you that much." Carmen frowned as she sat beside Chloe. Chloe sighed.

"I just wish I could make him realize everything he could be doing so differently."

~…~

_You killed me, Brent,_ the words bounced through his head as they came out of her mouth. _Why did you do that? _

_I was your friend. And now I'm dead. Because of you._

_How do you live with yourself?_

He became angry and punched her, but when his fist came in contact with her face she just evaporated like she was never even there.

_I was the only one ever there for you your whole life and you kill me? What a great friend you are. I loved you and you turned me away. Why do you think I fell in love with Danny? Maybe I wouldn't have if you hadn't pushed me away._

_Nice going…_

He turned around to see her standing there, a sad, longing look to her eyes. It gave him a mix of sad and angry emotions.

_If you hadn't killed me we could still be friends today. The five of us, we'd have been one big family. You'd even look cute with Carmen…I think she's always kind of wanted to be your friend too. But she always got so mad at you for doing everything you did…_

_And now you're after my daughter? How are you thinking that'll satisfy you? It'll only make you feel worse. Why don't you just quit while you're ahead? You're in over your head. _

He closed his eyes tight in hopes that once he opened them, she would be gone and he wouldn't be hearing her harsh words anymore. But he still heard her voice when he opened his eyes again.

_Nothing you can do will make me go away, Brent._

Brent screamed in frustration into the nighttime city, letting his voice echo through the empty streets as he dropped to his knees, let his head fall into his cupped hands, and sobbed until he fell asleep.

_I'm going to be haunting you forever._

**Psh, that was good! I thinks…that depends on your opinion, which you should leave in a review…**


	8. Reaching Demises

Chloe felt she couldn't even turn her head without seeing Brent stalking her. He was so preoccupied with getting revenge against a girl he had ticked off in the first place that he didn't realize the bonding this could cause with us. Not just me and him, Carmen me and him. We could be a real tight-knit family, you know? Thought Chloe.

Chloe lazily walked to her kitchen as the Saturday morning sun poked through her small apartment windows. She heard something bump from her apartment wall (the one dropping over the street) and she knew it was probably Brent again. She sighed in annoyance.

"Brent, give up! I know that's you so just quit while you're ahead. You're not worrying me, you're annoying me." I said, annoyed. I heard a devious chuckle and the sound of someone's feet shuffling up the wall and to the roof. He was probably attached to a rock climbing rope or some other climbing device. I shuffled my way to the roof in the sweatpants and baggy t-shirt I had fallen asleep in. No sign of him.

"You could have made up for your misfortunes by now and you could've spent my childhood doing some good to reverse the guilt of killing your only friend, your _best _friend at that, and the love of your life. You could've made a friend out of me, I'd have forgiven you in a sense. Yeah, I'll be mad at you forever for killing my parents but that's just human nature." I continued.

"And it's not too late to be my friend. I'd still partly forgive you and get over the hurt that I feel inside when I see you. I mean, you killed my family. Whaddya expect?" He still wasn't showing his face. It was silent.

"I want you to be there for me in the situations that I face every day as an adult. I want you to be there for me when my parents can't. I want you to be watching over me from a distance and I want you to be my friend. You're just not letting yourself." At this my eyes began to water. I don't know why I was getting so emotional at such a bad time…

He still wasn't showing himself. Now I was just plain miserable.

"I know you're out there! Show yourself!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face like a river as I watched him make his escape, scaling down the side of the apartment building with his climbing equipment. My head fell and I walked back down to my apartment and made myself some breakfast.

I know the little game he's playing with me. He's trying to make me want to be killed. But truth is there's nothing he can do to make me want to die.

But by threatening my friends who have been there with me even when I tried to kill them, he's succeeded in making my life a living hell. I don't want my friends to suffer for something that's my problem. I want to be able to handle it myself. I want to finish what he and my parents started. I want him to know that this isn't the way things have to be.

And I intend on letting him know.

~…~

Later that day, Chloe went out to town to meet Rhodey. She would have met with Rhodey, Tony and Pepper, but Tony was still recovering from being stabbed and since Pepper was the worst worrywart in the world, she made him stay home from work, explaining that she'd fill in for the day and get his work for him and he should just relax; they had left Maddie at Roberta's in the meantime so Tony could relax and Pepper didn't have to worry about Maddie running around the office while she was trying to do work…so Chloe decided it'd be nice to have a calm afternoon with Rhodey.

She had planned to meet him at his office in the city, for when he wasn't required on the field, directing soldiers or whomever came across his leadership. His office was closer to the top, so she had to take the elevator.

For some odd reason, the elevator ride seemed excruciatingly long and she was growing more nervous by the second. She hadn't really seen Rhodey in a while, what with her being so busy with S.H.I.E.L.D. work and him being so busy with army stuff, there just wasn't enough hours in the day for them to get together during their lunch hour or their days off, which they got rarely, really.

The floors dinged one by one as they passed the elevator, and soon enough she was on the correct floor. She went to the secretary's desk and asked where James Rhodes's office was, and she directed Chloe down the hall and to her left. Chloe slowly approached his office and knocked on the open door.

"Ready to go?" She asked. He looked up from some paperwork he was occupied with for most of the morning with a smile.

"Oh! Yeah, I was just finishing up some paperwork here. But I'm ready," He said, getting up and gathering his things.

"Good, cause I'm starved!" Chloe said with a smile.

They went to a café downtown that sold coffee and sandwiches, the perfect place for busy workers in a rush to get back to work. In New York City, lunch break was never really a break.

"So, how's life been treating you lately?" Rhodey asked as he chewed on a bite of his turkey and lettuce sub.

"Eh. Good but not so good…" Chloe started.

"What's up?" Rhodey asked, curious.

"Actually, I'm kind of scared to tell you." Chloe said. Rhodey was now a bit concerned. Usually that wasn't good. Even the look in her eyes showed she was frightened.

"Chloe, did someone threaten you?" He asked.

"Kinda…even if I told you I'd be in trouble."

"Chloe, I'm War Machine. I'm pretty sure I can handle it." He said quietly. Chloe sighed.

"Okay, fine…" She gave in. "My parents' killer broke out of prison and he's out to kill me out of some quest for revenge against my mom for breaking his heart even though he broke her heart…it's a long story and I'd rather not explain it over lunch. Bottom line, he's a guy with a knife and he's already gotten to Tony by the side. So I'm in trouble." Chloe explained. Rhodey set down his sandwich.

"Well I won't stand for it, and I'm sure Tony won't either. I-" Rhodey stopped and blushed, "We, won't let anything happen to you."

"But what are you going to do about it?" Chloe asked.

"Well for starters I'm going to check in on you every day, either by calling, texting or knocking on your door, I'm going to have Tony set up a protective barrier around your apartment that's invisible to the human eye, and I want you to call me at the slightest sound of danger. Got it?" Chloe sighed.

"Yeah."

"Good. I don't know what I'd do with myself if we let you get killed." Rhodey said with a smile. Chloe sighed and suddenly sprung a hug onto him. Rhodey was surprised at the motion, but hugged back anyways.

"You're the first person to care about me that much." Chloe said, speaking partly into his shirt.

~…~

After lunch, Rhodey returned Chloe to her apartment and Chloe threw her stuff down on her kitchen counter, tired. As she was doing so, she suddenly heard a commotion coming from the roof. She listened suspiciously. She sighed and found her way to the roof. Brent seemed to like that meeting place, she thought. Rhodey cautiously followed her to the roof, ready to dawn the War Machine armor in-the-moment (Tony had managed to manufacture a War Machine suitcase, since the armor was so big and bulky that Tony couldn't get it into a backpack).

And sure enough, there was Brent, smiling a demented, crazy smile; like something in his mind had just snapped and now he was going crazy. _What I said got to him, I just know it._ Chloe thought. He had a way of listening when he didn't want to and absorbing words when he really didn't want to.

"So you did hear me earlier today." Chloe stated.

"You're so wrong it's killing you! There's no way we could ever be friends, ever! You were born to make me mad." Brent scoffed. Rhodey was confused.

"Wait, what's going on here?" He asked.

"Long story short, I said some things this morning that apparently he doesn't like." Chloe knew there was no time for long and complicated responses because Brent was going to lash out any minute now.

"Yes, and now I'm going to kill you and your little friend." He laughed. Chloe braced herself to start kicking and punching and Rhodey immediately armored up.

"How cute, you have your little bodyguard. As if he's going to do anything."

"Actually I think you should be quite intimidated!" Rhodey threatened.

"I'm done talking!" Brent growled, throwing the knife at Chloe. Chloe stopped his hand before the tip of the knife had the chance to cut open her skin and twisted it so he fell over, dropping the knife. Chloe picked up the knife quickly as she could, Brent getting a handle on it at the same time.

"If you don't let go of this knife I will turn it on you and kill you on the spot!" Brent threatened.

"Get away from her!" Rhodey exclaimed, throwing a repulsor at Brent. Brent fell to the ground once more. He had to admit, that kind of hurt. And nothing phased him.

Rhodey stood over Brent as the sky screamed with thunder and rain started pouring from the sky, face plate open.

"Don't you dare hurt her." Chloe could see the anger and seriousness in his eyes. He really, sincerely cared for her.

"Oh, and you're so frightening!" Brent laughed. Then Tony arrived in the Mark 2 armor **(A/N: Did I spell that right? Not sure…) **and shot down Brent some more with his own repulsors.

"Chloe, Rhodey, are you guys okay?" He asked.

"You both need to get out of here! This has been my fight since the poor sap killed my parents. I don't want anyone fighting my battles for me! And Tony for god's sake do you ever stop? Pepper's probably freaking out!"

"_Thank you!" _ Pepper exclaimed through the comm. Systems on Tony's armor, even though only Tony and Rhodey could hear through their armors.

"I'm fine, I told you I'm a fast healer." Tony shoved it off. "The important thing is that you're okay." Jesus Christ do they all care this much? Chloe thought. She'd never experienced so much caring and friendship in one room.

"I don't care! I care about fighting my own battles so leave me be, both of you! Please!" Chloe begged.

"No way!"

In all their arguing, Brent managed to stand up, retrieve the knife and slash Rhodey's and Tony's armor. They fell to the ground, fumbling to remove their armor; Tony knew it'd take forever to fix the deep slash marks the knife had made.

Brent then turned the knife on Chloe. Chloe managed to stop it inches from her chest and was managing to hold it back from killing her.

"Come on, Brent! Just give up! You know you can't kill me! You know you want to keep me in your life, you know you want to look after me like I was the daughter you'd never get the chance to have, and you want to protect me with every chance you get. You want to be my friend, you don't want to kill me!" Chloe begged. She knew that talk was what got her in this mess in the first place, but it was the only thing she could think of to stop Brent from shoving the knife into her chest.

**Well there's just one chapter left…so please review? I have none so far! ):**

**P.S.-I got a new laptop so I should be updating more often! Yay! (Hopefully…) **


	9. Final Demise

Brent took in her words once more, against his own will, and shoved the knife deep into Chloe's chest. Chloe fell lifelessly to the ground as Brent sheathed the knife out of her**. **

"No!" Tony and Rhodey exclaimed, still struggling to get their armors to fold up. Tony and Rhodey immediately fired their repulsors at him, and shockingly, the power of the combined repulsors was enough to cause a heart attack. Brent fell from the apartment building to the street below.

If that didn't kill him, nothing would.

"Chloe!" Rhodey tore the armor off and ran to her side. The armor had managed to fold under the pressure of Rhodey pushing out of it so rapidly. Rhodey's hands became covered in Chloe's blood as he watched her lifeless, dead eyes. They had closed as she fell to the ground. Her skin had grown pale and was turning a purplish-blue color.

"She's gone," Rhodey said quietly. He dawned the armor again and flew off into the horizon.

Tony took it much differently. His face was flushed and his eyes had an empty look to them.

Chloe was his friend. Chloe was that one friend that he had that he could talk to if he happened to come across a day where he missed his father or his parents. And now she was gone.

"Tony? Tony are you okay?" Pepper asked over the comm. Systems.

"No, not really…"

~…~

Surprisingly, there was a large turnout for the funeral. Carmen's family and friends, and friends and family of Sarah and Danny traveled from Chloe's hometown to attend the funeral. It was a simple service. Closed casket, kneel down and pray to Chloe and tell her they're sorry for what happened and whatnot and whatever else they had to say. They celebrated her life and all the usual for calling hours and a funeral. It was hard for everyone there to grasp the fact that she was gone, Tony could tell by the look in everyone's eyes.

The burial was brief. Not much really wanted to be said, or people would start crying and everyone knew that Chloe just hated that. Eventually everyone filed out and attended to the rest of their day on their own.

Tony looked down at the tombstone with depression deep in his eyes when Pepper placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Dead. She's dead," Tony said.

"Tony, there wasn't anything you could do." Pepper comforted.

"I just can't believe I let this happen..."

"Tony, we all miss Chloe. How do you think Rhodey feels?" Pepper tried to offer that much as solace to Tony.

"Yeah, but she's an old friend. It's just hard to see her go, after everything the four of us have been through," Tony said.

"I know, Tony, I know. But we all have to accept it and move on. Come on, the babysitter is expecting us home soon." Tony followed Pepper to Tony's car and they found their way home.

Tony caught a last glimpse of Chloe's grave before driving away, and he could swear he saw her standing above her grave, waving back at him, standing next to a little boy and two older adults.

"She's with her family now," Tony said quietly as he walked home with Pepper.

**Bang, that's the end! Oh well…I'll be posting an alternate ending either tonight or tomorrow so relax, Chloe will live in that version.**

**Again I say, review!**


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